Box signs



Nov. 10, 1970 H. BLOOM 3,538,634

ox SIGNS v Filed se t: 14, 1967 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 m uE/Y me #A mp Blown 3 WWw United States Patent 3,538,634 BOX SIGNS Harold Bloom, Flat 3, Ambassador House, Carlton Hill, London, NW. 8, England Filed Sept. 14, 1967, Ser. No. 667,824 Int. Cl. G09f 1/12 U.S. Cl. 40-152 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Sign for advertising etc. in the form of a box with a translucent side, and connecting walls between end walls, the connecting walls each having longitudinal projecting ribs on their respective inner surfaces, the ribs having a lengthwise channel, the opposite faces of which are longitudinally serrated to accept screws anywhere along the channel.

This invention relates to signs for advertising and other purposes which are in the form of a box, with one or more sides translucent, and adapted either to be internally illuminated or not. The term translucent includes transparent.

The present invention has for its object to provide such a box sign of simplified construction wherein the walls give inherent rigidity and some of them are integrally formed on their inner surfaces with means whereby internal fittings may be speedily and easily secured in position without showing visible fixings on the exterior faces.

According to the said invention, a box sign is constructed with front and back walls of which at least the front is of translucent material, and end walls, together with at least two connecting walls between the end walls, said connecting walls being plates each having a plurality of projecting ribs formed on its surface located internally of the box and disposed longitudinally substantially from end to end of the plate, the ribs being each formed with a lengthwise channel which has a pair of parallel opposite faces longitudinally serrated to accept a screw at any requisite position along the channel. The sign is preferably of rectangular section thus employing only two connecting walls which respectively form the top and bottom walls of the sign, and are connected at each of their longitudinal edges respectively to the front and back walls of the box sign by corner strips secured to the said longitudinal edges. The box, however, may be prismatic with more than four sides.

In order that the said invention may be readily understood some embodiments thereof will be described, by way of example, with the aid of the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an extruded sheet showing on its under face the surface which will face the interior of the box, the outer face being the visible face of the box sign made up therefrom;

FIG. 2 is a cross-section of a typical box constructed according to the invention, a parallelepiped being selected by way of example;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view to a smaller scale of a box made according to FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 shows in section the upper part of a modification (the bottom being similar); and

FIGS. 5 and 6 are similar to FIG. 4 but showing further modifications.

Like numerals of reference indicate the same or corresponding features in the several views.

Referring first to FIG. 1, this is an extruded strip 1 or connecting plate in a box construction and is of anodised or non-anodised aluminum alloy or other suitable metal, or of a plastics material, having slight V depressions 2 3,538,634 Patented Nov. 10, 1970 "ice for longitudinal rigidity and to enhance the design, and a plurality of projecting ribs having longitudinal screwreceiving channels 3. These ribs are located internally of the box, as is described later with reference to FIG. 2 where the strip or connecting plate 1 is a connecting wall between end walls of the box. The channels 3 are internally serrated on each side as depicted at 3a so that they can accept a screw (see 4 in FIG. 2) at any point along their length. It will be seen that the particular connecting plate of FIG. 1 has a substantially central channel 3 and another near each side edge, but the invention is not limited to any particular number or arrangement. The side channels 3 are made as double-channels, one (5) opening reversely, i.e. outwardly of the plate 1. The latter has its sides 6 depressed slightly from the plane of the main body so as to receive snugly a fitting hereinafter described.

In FIG. 2 there is illustrated in cross-section, merely by way of example, one form of box sign utilizing extruded strips 1 according to FIG. 1 as connecting walls. The top A and bottom B of the box are composed of similar connecting Walls 1 and also each end wall C of the box (one of which is seen in the view) are of similar section. These four walls A, B, and C, C may be secured together in any convenient manner, e.g. thin metal angleplates can be used. In the front of the box a rigid translucent sheet 8, constituting a front wall and advantageously of a plastics substance, is fitted against the respective outer faces 9 of the upper and lower channels 5. A separate clamping channel member 10, which may be a metal extrusion, is secured by a screw 4 which is threaded into the serrated channel 5. The thickness of the longer leg 11 of the channel 10 makes a neat continuous flush surface with the top surface of the extruded strip seen in FIG. 1, while the shorter leg 12 holds the sheet 8 firmly in place. If it is desired to provide a similar sheet 8 at the back wall then the extruded strip according to FIG. 1 would be employed, and the clamping arrangement just described would be applied at the back.

However, in FIG. 2, an opaque back Wall is depicted. Here a spacing waterproof gasket 13 is fitted against the open mouth of the serrated channel 7, and on top a metal closure plate 14 is screwed at 4. Finishing strips 15 are screwed in position by screws 4 to bring the exterior surface of the extruded strip flush throughout. In assembly the number 15 is first screwed in position so that the gasket 13 and then the closure plate 14 secured as stated. It will be appreciated that any internal fittings, such as lamp holders, can be attached by screws to the various serrated channels 7, while one or more U-shape stiffening frames 16 may be similarly attached within the box.

In cases where a degree of waterproofing is required a further extruded section of a waterproof material (not shown) may be provided as a liner to the extruded strip or connecting wall I. The configuration given to this liner would be such that it fits exactly against the interior projections of the strip 1, i.e. against the underface of the strip 1 as seen in FIG. 1.

The box may be given any suitable proportions and length, and FIG. 3 gives one idea of the appearance of a typical sign. This may be fixed by its back to a wall, partition or other fixed structure, or may be supported by brackets at the tear, or suspended.

In FIG. 4 the connector plate 1 is substantially similar to the corresponding member in FIGS. 1 and 2, but it has a tongue 17 projecting from the longitudinal inset edge 18 of the connecting wall 1. The edge strip 10 is of channel section as in FIGS. 1 and 2 and the long leg 11 thereof is longitudinally slotted to receive the aforesaid tongue 17. This edge strip 10 is provided internally at the base 19 of the channel with a springy projecting device 20, which takes the form, in this embodiment, of one or more stiff plastics tongues, or one long continuous tongue, slightly upturned at its projecting edge so as to engage a recess 21 under the outermost longitudinal edge of the connecting member 1. Together with the tongue 17 this constitutes an effective method of keeping the corner strip in position, and avoids the employment of screws such as 4 in FIG. 2.

The opaque back '14 is employed as in the previous example although the fixing screw 4 in this example is carried right through the corner strip to a slotted rib carried by the corner piece.

In FIG. 5, the leg 12 of channel strip is shorter than that shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 so that the translucent panel 8 can be backed by an abutment strip 22 held in position by an extruded Z-strip 23 secured to the rib 3 disposed near one longitudinal edge of the connecting wall 1.

In FIG. 6, there is shown a translucent back 24 as well as the translucent front 8. The edge strip 10a and associated fittings are similar to those already described at the front. I claim: 1. A component box for a sign structure, the box comprising a rear end wall, a front end wall, connecting walls extending between the end walls, and connecting bars uniting the end walls to the connecting walls, each end wall having its boundary edge portions coplanar, and at least one of the end walls being translucent, in which each connecting wall is an extruded section having planar internal and external surfaces with more than two spaced ribs projecting from the internal surface, said ribs being parallel to the end walls, and two of said ribs being each adjacent to an end wall,

each rib is formed with a longitudinally extending slot open to the interior of the box and having parallel opposed interior faces which are longitudinally serrated to cooperate with the threads of screws to be screwed into the slot,

each connecting bar uniting a said translucent end wall with the connecting walls is of channel section,

each boundary edge portion of a said translucent end wall is held between one flange of a said channel section connecting bar and an abutment provided by an adjacent rib, and at each end of the box the end of each connecting wall has an external recess and a flange of the connecting bar adjacent that end is positioned in the recess, the engaging surfaces of the recess and the flange positioned therein being parallel to the planar surfaces of the connecting wall, and an external surface of said flange positioned in the recess being coplanar with the external surface of the connecting wall.

2. A component box as claimed in claim 1, in which, at least at one end of the box, each rib which is adjacent to the end wall has a second longitudinal slot opening to a said external recess at this end of the box, the second slot has parallel opposed internal faces having longitudinal serrations, and the connecting bars at this end of the box are fastened to the connecting walls by screws extending through said flanges positioned in said recesses into the second longitudinal slots with the threads of the screws engaging the serrations thereof.

3. A component box as claimed in claim 1, in which, at least at one end of the box, there are tongue-andgroove connections between the ends of the connecting walls and the flanges of the connecting bars which are positioned in the external recesses at the ends of the connecting walls, and springy projections extend inside the connecting bars into latching engagement in inner recesses on the edge portions of the connecting walls.

4. A component box as claimed in claim 1, in which U-shape reinforcing members are mounted inside the box, with the limbs of each said reinforcing member extending transversely of the ribs of two opposite connecting walls and releasably fastened to said opposite connecting walls by screws extending into and engaging the serrations of the slots in the ribs.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,530,525 11/ 1950 Howenstine 40-132 X 2,633,653 4/1953 Angus 40-156 2,839,857 6/1958 Teller 40152 X FOREIGN PATENTS 750,111 1/1967 Canada.

JEROME SCHNALL, Primary Examiner W. J. CONTRERAS, Assistant Examiner 

